Okay, I decided to upload an image of my resume as it's probably the best way to solicit some criticism. I am thinking of merging my two "employment" sections, but if I do so I have no room to list cashier job duties. I can't omit those jobs because otherwise I have a huge gap in my work experience. Thanks!

Edit.

Last edited by Kess on Wed Nov 02, 2011 5:50 pm, edited 4 times in total.

You might want to think about adding an "Activities" section and a "Personal" section. You could put the Russian language proficiency info in the personal. According to Ivey a person doesn't need "references available on request" or "wpm, proficient in these computer programs..." these are more for occupational resumes whereas the resume a person submits to a law school (still according to Ivey) is different, more holistically focused.

P.S. congrats on your rocking GPA and your work experience should pique some ad comms' interest.

I would break skills and references out by themselves, like you did education and work experience. It's how mine has been for the last seven years, and I had someone who looks at/does stuff like that for a living tell me to do that. Also, get rid of the dashes separating your different sections.

somewherewarm wrote:You might want to think about adding an "Activities" section and a "Personal" section. You could put the Russian language proficiency info in the personal. According to Ivey a person doesn't need "references available on request" or "wpm, proficient in these computer programs..." these are more for occupational resumes whereas the resume a person submits to a law school (still according to Ivey) is different, more holistically focused.

P.S. congrats on your rocking GPA and your work experience should pique some ad comms' interest.

Thanks, those are good ideas.

My main concerns is that some of this work experience is old, but if I get rid of it, I will have nothing left in my resume.

What do you think of the formatting? Some people have such pretty resumes. Mine isn't physically attractive.

stephinmd wrote:I would break skills and references out by themselves, like you did education and work experience. It's how mine has been for the last seven years, and I had someone who looks at/does stuff like that for a living tell me to do that. Also, get rid of the dashes separating your different sections.

Good point. I'll do that. Do you think I should put some other kind of lines instead of the dashes or nothing at all?

shoeshine wrote:The format is too plain/old looking. It looks like it is from the 1980s. You want a professional (not modern) look but this is just too plain.

I agree with this. Your resume looks like mostly white space, which is not good imo.

For minor wording things... I would change "marked prices on items" to "priced items", simply say "receptionist" instead of "temporary receptionist", and remove "references available upon request" - law schools don't need that & any job you are applying to is going to know that they can ask for references from you. I would also remove word & powerpoint because people are going to expect a 20-something to have knowledge of microsoft office.

There are some nice examples in here. I thought the Information Technology heading (top part with the name, address, email, etc...) and the Chef heading both represented a fairly clean, professional looking resume; don't pay too much attention to the categories or other substantive material, look more at the formatting (you want clean, manageable, and easy to read). I've heard that a person shouldn't try to get too "cute" with the resume, i.e. 25 point font for the person's name at the top with all kinds of font styles and crazy stuff going on in the body of the resume. I've also heard that white space isn't necessarily a bad thing, if a person uses 9 point font and types in every nook and cranny of the resume then an ad comm may be less inclined to read it since it's so info dense. I see that your oldest employment goes back to 2005, that is a while ago but working at a law office is a nice thing to highlight to admissions... a person with a little more knowledge than me may have to weigh in to say what's more important: time since you had the job v. good thing to show admissions.

I got a lot of help with my resume - I think it is generally one of the most overlooked part of the application - and a lot of the advice I got had to deal with adjusting the resume to fit the purpose of an application rather than a job search. An employer might be interested to know that you type 65 wpm, stocked shelves, and assisted constituents with filling out paperwork. For law school, I think you can eliminate many of those types of lines - we already have an idea of your general duties, and don't need an additional line saying, "Distribute incoming mail and files appropriately." Some of them are redundant regardless of purpose.

For instance, of the following pairs:"Managed inventory" > "Stocked shelves and marked prices on items""Served as Russian translator" > "Assisted elderly and Russian-speaking clients in filling out applications"

I agree that you should update your format. I don't think there's anything wrong with a little white space - cramming too much in makes it difficult to read - but the problem with your format is that there seems to be so much wasted space, at the format seems to actually de-emphasize your job descriptions.

With a few changes, you'd have some room to do as others suggested and include a brief section with your skills as well as your interests. While there are mixed opinions regarding the inclusion of hobbies/interests on a resume, I really don't think it can hurt to offer just one or two more words that share something about you that isn't evident in other areas of the application. You've got a stellar GPA already, and a revamped resume will make you an even more attractive applicant. Good luck!

The font sucks. Do not draw lines on your resume. Readers can tell that there is a break by the headings and white space. the dates for your admin work for the assemblywoman are flipped (s/b reverse chrono).

Did it take you 6 years to graduate? I would break out the inschool work and the summer work. Also add a section for honors and activities. Deans list should say 6/8 semesters. No need to list which ones.

Write in paragraph form. Bullets make things harder to read, not easier (common misconception). People know what a cashier does, don't list the job duties, list the reason why you were working (to pay for school) and the hours worked (for all your in school jobs). Explain when you went above and beyond or a unique experience there (maybe you trained others.) This applies to all your jobs.

With the assembly job, show progressive responsibility. Discuss something exciting you worked on not the phone answering tasks and such.